The Volkswagen emissions test scandal which has engulfed the global car industry continues to unfold. It is the worst corporate scandal in Germany for years, and could prove to be a bigger threat to chancellor Angela Merkel than the Greece debt crisis.

All eyes are on Volkswagen’s 20-member supervisory board today, which is holding a crisis meeting at the carmaker’s HQ in Wolfsburg to choose a successor to Martin Winterkorn. Winterkorn, who had been chief executive since 2007, quit on Wednesday, but insisted that he was not involved in the scandal.

Matthias Müller, the 62-year-old boss of VW’s Porsche sports car division, has emerged as the favourite to replace Winterkorn. Reuters reported last night that VW’s former head product strategist is backed by a majority of directors on the board.

More heads could roll at the carmaker, with reports that the research and development chiefs of Audi and Porsche, Ulrich Hackenberg and Wolfgang Hatz, along with Volkswagen’s US chief executive Michael Horn could be fired.

(The Guardian)